Substantial mineral resource upgrade reinforces Pilgangoora’s position as world-class operation

Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) has substantially increased the mineral resource at its Pilgangoora operation in WA by 36%.

The updated mineral resource now contains 4.75Mt of lithium oxide at 1.15% lithium oxide, reinforcing Pilgangoora’s position as one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium operations.

This has enhanced the overall resource confidence of Pilgangoora with 82% of the mineral resource now classified as measured and indicated.  

Managing director and chief executive Dale Henderson commented on the increase.

“The upgraded mineral resource is consistent with our strategy to grow our operating base and therefore maximise value by achieving the full potential from our world class operation,” he said.

“We have added 109Mt of additional mineral resource at a direct exploration cost of only 13 cents per tonne of additional resource — an outstanding result.

“We are looking forward to completing an updated ore reserve this quarter that will underpin operations for many years to come and may provide an opportunity to further expand production capacity beyond P1000.”

This update will underpin an ore reserve update that is currently being progressed for release in the September 2023 quarter.

Further extension targets have been identified, including the prospective East Extension proximate to the East Pit and Central Extension proximate to the Central Pit which will be further drill tested in the FY24 drilling campaign.